ERIN KIRKLAND for the Daily News
Great Lakes Loons' Brendon Davis swings at a pitch in Tuesday's game against the Lake County Captains at Dow Diamond.

ERIN KIRKLAND for the Daily News
Great Lakes Loons' Brendon Davis swings at a pitch in Tuesday's game against the Lake County Captains at Dow Diamond.

Photo: Midland Daily News

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ERIN KIRKLAND for the Daily News
Loons' Devin Smeltzer throws the ball to first during a game against the Lake County Captains on Tuesday at Dow Diamond.

ERIN KIRKLAND for the Daily News
Loons' Devin Smeltzer throws the ball to first during a game against the Lake County Captains on Tuesday at Dow Diamond.

Photo: Midland Daily News

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ERIN KIRKLAND for the Daily News
Loons' Oneil Cruz runs to first during a game against the Lake County Captains on Tuesday at Dow Diamond.

ERIN KIRKLAND for the Daily News
Loons' Oneil Cruz runs to first during a game against the Lake County Captains on Tuesday at Dow Diamond.

Photo: Midland Daily News

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ERIN KIRKLAND for the Daily News
Great Lakes Loons' Devin Smeltzer pitches against the Lake County Captains on Tuesday at Dow Diamond.

ERIN KIRKLAND for the Daily News
Great Lakes Loons' Devin Smeltzer pitches against the Lake County Captains on Tuesday at Dow Diamond.

Photo: Midland Daily News

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ERIN KIRKLAND for the Daily News
Loons' Carlos Rincon watches as the ball flies past while up at bat during a game against the Lake County Captains on Tuesday at Dow Diamond.

ERIN KIRKLAND for the Daily News
Loons' Carlos Rincon watches as the ball flies past while up at bat during a game against the Lake County Captains on Tuesday at Dow Diamond.

Photo: Midland Daily News

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Great Lakes backs Smeltzer with eight-run sixth inning in 9-0 win over Lake County

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Great Lakes Loons’ starting pitcher Devin Smeltzer didn’t need much offensive support on Tuesday, but his teammates insisted.

A fifth-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers last year, the 6-foot, 3-inch, 195-pound lefthander became the first Loons’ starter to earn a win this season, lifting his club to a 9-0 win over the Lake County Captains at Dow Diamond. Smeltzer extended his scoreless innings streak to 15.

“Pre-start, I watched a ton of video on their guys and looked at their heat maps, trying to find the holes in their swings and match them with my strengths,” said Smeltzer. “(Catcher Keibert) Ruiz is on board as well, and called a great game today.”

The Loons established season bests in multiple categories, earning their first shutout with their season-high third straight win. Their nine runs matched a season-high, while their 14 hits also set a season-high.

Great Lakes (8-11) can claim a sweep of the three-game series in today’s 2:05 p.m. series finale.

Smeltzer lowered his earned-run average to 1.50, allowing just two hits with no walks and a career-high eight strikeouts over six innings. He expertly worked within the 70-pitch limit that the Dodgers set for him, throwing 48 of his 66 pitches for strikes.

“My job is to change my timing up to get guys out on their front foot and get ahead in the count,” said Smeltzer. “I’ve got enough pitches to keep them off balance and get the strikeouts when I need them.”

Smeltzer even fielded his position well, making three putouts to help him retire 12 straight batters to open the game. After allowing his second and final hit of the night, a bunt single to Gabriel Mejia, Smeltzer picked him off to cap his tremendous performance.

“He looked really good tonight,” said Loons’ manager Jeremy Rodriguez of Smeltzer. “He had that look in his eye that you just knew nothing was going to stop him.

“He was down in the zone, and had a great off-speed breaking ball today,” added Rodriguez. “He was sharp, down, and threw it aggressively with intent, and didn’t baby it. He set that (off-speed breaking ball) up with some good fastballs, and their guys were jumping on it.”

Smeltzer said the strikeouts are nice, but not a necessity.

“I’m not looking for strikeouts. I’m trying to get contact within three pitches,” he said. “I go for strikeouts when they present themselves, but before that, I’m trying to get them to put the ball in play and be efficient so we can save the (bullpen).”

The Loons didn’t get a hit until Carlos Rincon’s two-out single in the bottom of the fourth inning, while the Captains didn’t get their first hit until the start of the fifth inning.

Through four innings, neither Smeltzer nor his pitching counterpart, Shane Bieber, had even reached a three-ball count.

However, Smeltzer was able to sustain his efficiency, while things went south for Bieber when the Loons broke the game open with a season-best eight-run sixth inning, sending a season-high 13 hitters to the plate.

After Nick Yarnall’s run-scoring fielder’s choice gave the Loons a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning, Brendon Davis got Great Lakes started in the sixth with his solo homer to left-center. The Loons got another key sixth-inning hit with Mitchell Hansen’s two-run single to make it a 4-0 lead and end the night for Bieber.

Bieber had surrendered just four runs all season before allowing five on Tuesday, as the Loons improved to 4-1 against the Captains this season.

Davis was pleased to be able to spark the sixth-inning onslaught with his homer.

“Anything I could do to get something started, whether it was a walk or a base hit, to create some momentum for us,” Davis said of what he wanted to do at the plate. “Whenever your guy goes out on the mound and competes like that, you want to back him up with some runs to take some of the pressure off.”

Ruiz’s run-scoring single added to the lead, and Davis’ single knocked in another two runs in his second at-bat of the inning, preceding a run-scoring single from Rincon and Cody Thomas’s run-scoring double.

Hansen was 3-for-4 with two runs batted in and a run scored to pace the Loons, while Rincon increased his team-leading average to .355 with his fourth three-hit game, finishing 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.

Oneil Cruz notched his first two hits at Dow Diamond and scored a run, Davis added two hits, three RBIs and scored twice, Cody Thomas had a single and a double to go with an RBI and a run, and Ruiz finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run.

Miguel Urena closed the game out in relief of Smeltzer with three scoreless innings for a save in his first Loons’ appearance.

“There were a lot of firsts for us in this game, and hopefully there are a lot more to come,” said Rodriguez. “The guys are confident right now and enjoying themselves, but they’ve got to ride the wave and stay consistent with it.”